Poor Sumi Kitamura… Her irresponsible older brother Eisuke keeps bringing home orphans for her to take care of even though they can barely afford their own basic needs! Just when Sumi's financial problems become dire, wealthy Soichiro Ashida enters her life with a bizarre proposition: he'll provide her with the money she so desperately needs if she agrees to marry him. But can Sumi fool high society into thinking she's a proper lady? Moreover, is it worth giving up everything for this sham of a marriage?

I thought this manga was alright. Not my favourite and I probably won't read it again but I don't regret reading it. It was a soft, powerful romance. I thought some things were pretty predictable but I did get surprised at certain times so it kept me entertained. The art is absolutely beautiful. I'm giving it a 7/10 because in my opinion, it lacked something... like a deep connection or something out of the ordinary to occur?

I know how this story ends but I still think she and Nozumo are perfect together.

And....I know I am the minority on that one, but I also really disliked Soichiro. He is a real jerk from the beginning and he is not honest to Sumi at all, as well as very scheming into getting the Injunn finances and what not. He betrayed one of his close friends and didn't care. (maybe a little towards Sumi, but he actually grew up with Nozomu!)

Anyway, to stay on the actual point (lol got a little derailed XD) I totally saw the revelation coming, about half way through the story I got a feeling. I don't really care about incest though so to me it didn't seem to matter. Whoops, I guess that's another kill joy to a lot of people.

The ending, however, was way to simple. I think I would have liked more depth. I am glad everyone is trying to find peace in the end, but it still it felt plastic to me, and rushed.

Nevertheless, I would still recommend this series. There is a lot of suspense, dynamic plots and turns, sexy bishes, and drama. Sumi is also always gorgeous and the art in this book is impeccable. I sometimes just have to stare (I mean those shower scenes......) Anyway, if you like romance, give it a go.

So glad that this is over!! It took so long!! But I'm glad that I finally finished it. OMG I absolutely LOVED this manga. Right from the beginning until I got to the end.

I loved the story and the characters, though at times I was really annoyed. I couldn't fathom how Sumi could be so stupid. I loved her, but she was really dumb. How many times can someone fall for the same trap? You know he's up to no good yet you fall for it every single time. Like, really now? I loved Soichiro :-) I thought he was so adorable when he would pretend and try hide his true feelings. Nozomu was a complete psycho! Who knew?! And he sickened me right till the end.

Frankly, I thought the real relationship between Sumi and Nozomu was obvious. DUH? I wasn't surprised at all. The ending was kind of weak. But it's not like we couldn't have seen that coming at all HAHA

Maybe I've grown out of the shoujo genre. All I know is that I only just managed to sit through this one.Good things:1. The art is nice. Not bad, not awesome, but good. 2. The plotline actually wasn't easily predictable. Well, maybe only unpredictable for me. The male leads at the beginning really threw me off balance.3.

Spoiler (mouse over to view)

She didn't actually go for the first guy shown in the manga. That would be her brother(non-biological). Then she met Nozumo. THEN Shoichiro.

It was pleasantly unpredictable.4. I've never read a manga with a plot like this, with such a tangled web of arranged marriage and poverty. That was actually quite interesting.

Bothersome things1. A bunch of the character have severe panic attacks at super simple things. In fact, they just completely flip their lids and lose themselves for the dumbest reasons. It's very very unrealistic.2. Every once in a while, a scene pops up that is a big wtf moment. For example, the female lead hits someone after he kisses her when she was entirely prepared for it and they were surrounded by a bunch of important people expecting them to act normally. If any real life human lost control of their reactions like that so easily, there would be pandemonium.

Anyways, I read this cause it was so weird. Even though I gave it a 6.9(which is very low for my ratings), I can't even say it's not worth reading. It's absurd, but it's fun? Take a go at it. Why not?

seriously i read all the scanlated chapters in one sitting!! i knew it!! i really,really knew it! i was so addicted back then to Tail of the Moon so i was really afraid that i will get addicted to this a well and yet here i am succumbing into the sweet,sweet goodness of shoujo.. *sigh* i really love RINKO UEDA- sensei.. she makes me happy!

its like shes reading my mind.. this manga has everything that im a sucker for! a tsundere guy, a creepy-evil guy who falls for the heroine, a butler, a stupid elder brother and a beautiful historical setting and im quite getting hooked on the rich boy- poor girl romances!! i love it!!

if it isnt for all those moments were in she always gets almost raped and me cussing at her for being so damn stupid and her lack of common sense, i like Sumi. well she a responsible elder sister,the kind i can only hope to be and shes your typical genki-genki heroine which i dont really hate..

and of course the art is beautiful and the bishies are HOT!! XD

it also gave me the same "butterfly in your stomach i cant breathe" feeling that Tail of the Moon gave me..

gosh im so happpppyy!~!

do you really have to ask for my rating?

>edit<well, that ended.. well. it was kind of a bust how it ended, the beginning was just so good.. and it delivered to allmy expectations but around the middle not that i started hating it but Nozumo was just whatever.. it was still tolerable but the ending just happened out of nowhere but you cant expect it to go on forever can you? im giving this a 8/10 cause the beginning was such a hooker!

This story just started making me sick. It started going bad for me around the middle part of the story, Nozomu 's sick crazy love for Sumi just made me get the goosebumps and I wanted to barf....story started out ok, but it kinda got a little worse until I had to drop it, then reread it again....relieved that this manga has come to an end.

Oh god, why Ueda-sensei, WHY?! I became a fan of her because of her other work Tail of the Moon and I had high expectations for this manga. But the ending was quite forced because the story spiraled it so out of control and there didn't seem a way to save the story. So I had a feeling Ueda-sensei didn't know how to end it either and just stick some stupid ending, hoping to satisfy her fans.

Out of all her works, this manga really made me hate her for creating this series. I'm too depressed to write a decent review, beside blabbing my broken heart over a poorly-made series.

Sorry to say, but not recommend for fans out there. It'll make people regret buying the series. Just stick to Tail of the Moon

The romance between the main characters was nice, and I have to say in the beginning I thought this manga would turn out to be one of my favourites. But I grew to hate it progressively the more I read.The main girl was really stupid and annoying. And that Nozomu character was a real psycopath, I didn't enjoy all his scheming.By the end there had been so much irritating drama I just couldn't feel any joy that they were finally together it was like oh, well that was always going to happen so whatever. Usually it's so nice that a couple overcomes every obstacle and gets together. But there was something really unromantic about this story, despite everything. It was a chore to read.

I got into this series because I saw the cover as one of the advertisements to some scanlation group or something. It looks suuuper shoujo, so I wanted to check out what the hell kind of story goes with this.

Sure it is cliche and stuff, but the effed up stuff that happens in between? That's gold. It's the only reason why I bother to keep up with this series, because Soichiro's been an A-class a-hole until recent chapters and is now humbled with poverty. Also with the recent developments with Nozomu confirming that he's hella cray? It's entertaining, in the way that you can't look away from an ongoing train wreck.